Here is a great example of how a visitor can really come prepared to MAKESHOP. Allen visits the Museum a lot and although there are lots of things to play with at the Museum he sometimes brings his own toys as well. During this particular visit his toys completely inspired him to create something in MAKSHOP. He wanted to make a car for his pirate toys to ride around in. We spent a really long time building a car out

I had the opportunity to use our laser cutter to create something practical for a change. We usually use our laser cutter to experiment with visitors and demonstrate the use of a laser to cut or etch different materials. I was asked to create this project for Tula Organic Salon and Spa. They wanted to laser cut a stencil so that they could paint a bathroom sign for their shop. I suggested that we could use the laser

When I visited the Children’s Museum of the Ohio Valley for my first site visit there was a day camp at the Museum full of kids from the same school. The kids were used to doing crafts and using materials like glue and tape. I decided to build a bunch of circuit blocks with these kids. I got out most of the woodworking tools along with a lot of the electronics equipment. I told the kids that they were going to

MAKESHOP is not just for kids, adults are allowed to have fun too. Every year the Museum hosts an event for the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. There has always been some kind of building challenge during this event. This year we prompted the groups to build bridges out of recycled materials. The bridges did not have to hold a certain weight or be a certain length. Instead, they were mea

I get to do a lot of fun things for the Museum. I recently got the chance to attend a Maker BBQ hosted by Hive Pittsburgh which is part of the Kids + Creativity Network. I spent a night at Pittsburgh’s Tech Shop hanging out with a bunch of teenagers. Everyone involved was teaching or demonstrating something digital: 3D modeling, programming etc. I decided to bring along some computers and let kids play with SC

The Braddock Library is an amazing place. The building is beautiful, the staff is extremely friendly and the patrons are awesome. I was lucky enough to visit the library twice this summer and teach two workshops: one woodworking and one electronics. The woodworking workshop had about twenty kids participate and all of them created something original. One girl simply spent a half and hour sawing a huge board in ha